Former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard explained how she believes her former party has damaged its standing with Christian voters, one of the largest voting blocs in the country. In an interview with The Daily Wire over the weekend, Gabbard said that during her time as a Democratic politician, she noticed increasing “discomfort when people mention God or open a meeting with a prayer.” “You see how this progression in the Democratic National Conventions over time, how once prayer and God, they were very much a part of many of the speeches that were given,” Gabbard told The Daily Wire. “You go back to the last convention in 2020 and maybe there was one mention of God, but even in the Pledge of Allegiance, they took out ‘under God’ when they said that,” she said. Gabbard was a popular congresswoman from Hawaii and served as vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee until 2016. She even ran for president in the party’s 2020 primary before announcing in October 2022 that she had left the Democratic Party and was an independent. “This is one of the reasons I left the Democratic Party, is they are undermining our freedom of religion and they are both directly and indirectly challenging our democracy and targeting people of faith and spirituality, especially Christians,” Gabbard said. “So it’s no wonder why so many Christians and, and people of faith recognize the danger of what happens when you have a party in power trying to remove even any mention of God from every facet of our public life,” she added. Beyond Christians, Gabbard said Democrats currently seem to be “alienating” everyone who is not “infected with their Trump derangement syndrome.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP “Common sense-minded Americans, independent-minded Americans, people who care about their kids, who are concerned about safety in our communities, who are concerned about the destruction of Title IX, who are concerned about parents wanting to have the power to make a decision where they send their kids to school,” she said. “Like how about let’s support small businesses instead of, you know, threatening a 40% increase in taxes that will directly impact them.” Many people who have traditionally voted Democrat are now seeing “a very real difference in policies” and recognizing how “radical” the Democrats really are, Gabbard said. “So whether it’s minority communities or other ethnic or religious demographics across the spectrum, we see people who’ve been taken for granted by the Democratic Party for a long time, people who recognize how the Democrats or elite are wildly out of touch with the everyday lives and challenges that people are facing in small towns and big cities and ultimately how insane and radical their agenda really is,” she said. Gabbard’s remarks come as the 2024 presidential election heats up, with former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden facing off in their first debate of the election cycle Thursday evening.

The presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Trump may well help decide the election in November; the history of televised presidential debates suggests that their effect can be significant. One factor that makes this debate so unusual is that is  being held far in advance of the presidential election. The first televised debates occurred in 1960, when Vice President Richard Nixon debated Massachusetts senator John F. Kennedy. In the wake of the two parties conventions, Nixon held a six-point lead over Kennedy in most polls. The four debates were held on September 26, October 7, October 13, and October 21. The first debate was seen by 65 million viewers; Nixon had been campaigning extensively and had lost 15 pounds. In addition, Nixon refused to wear makeup while Kennedy did, leading to Kennedy looking refreshed while Nixon’s five-o-clock shadow made him look more haggard. Howard K. Smith, who moderated the first debate, said decades later that television legitimized Kennedy as a candidate.  “One night elevated Kennedy,” he said. “He had been known as a ‘boy senator.’ But the person who came into the studio that night wasn’t a boy. He was a man.” “60 Minutes” creator Don Hewitt agreed: “When it was all over, I said, ‘My God, we’ve just elected a president of the United States.’ But I also remember saying, ‘I’m not sure we should elect one this way.’ We were just looking at two performers and picking the better performer.” The next televised presidential debates occurred in 1976 between President Gerald Ford and Georgia governor Jimmy Carter. The three presidential debates (a fourth vice-presidential debate was held between the GOP’s Robert Dole and the Democrat’s Walter Mondale) were held on September 23, October 6, and October 22. Carter said years later, “If it hadn’t been for the debates, I would have lost. They established me as competent on foreign and domestic affairs and gave the viewers reason to think that Jimmy Carter had something to offer.” 1980 featured only one debate between former California governor Ronald Reagan and President Carter. The first presidential debate was held on September 21, but because independent candidate John Anderson was invited Carter did not participate. After Reagan did quite well, Anderson’s poll numbers plunged. Carter and Reagan debated alone on October 28. Reagan won handily, largely because of him asking whether Americans were better off than they had been four years before and his oft-repeated statement to Carter, “There you go again.” An ABC poll after the debate found two-thirds of respondents thought Reagan won. Reagan had been running as much as 8% behind Carter before the debate, which occurred one week before the election. He then crushed Carter in the election. In 2000, George W. Bush debated Al Gore on October 3, 11 and 17. Time Magazine noted of the first debate, “The pundits and the polls agreed: Gore had won the debate. Then he lost: within a week, Bush had opened up a lead in several polls, as voters apparently decided they were tired of Professor Know-It-All.” Bush narrowly won the election. In 2012, three debates were held between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, on October 3, October 16, and October 22. Romney had been trailing in polls until the first debate, which people thought he won, thus helping him surge into the lead in Gallup and Pew polls. But Obama did much better in the second debate, propelling him to victory in the election. The 2016 debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump occurred on September 26, October 9, and October 19, and proved to be a major exception. Clinton was deemed the winner of each debate in virtually every poll. But in the end, Trump won the election.

Before they got Harry, the English bulldog, this family searched for “Dogs that don’t like to walk and don’t bark. The English bulldog was the top search result. With that in mind, it should not have been a huge surprise when her husband took their dog for a walk, and she found the two in a hilarious position. @englishharry #dog #englishbulldog #emptynest #dogmodel #lovestory #fatherson #walk #dogwalker #truestory #caughtoncamera ♬ Dance You Outta My Head – Cat Janice It seems that her husband is just as fond of walking as their dog, a match made in heaven. Bulldogs are stout, with a scrunched snout that creates breathing difficulties. While they can be quite powerful, walking is definitely not a favorite activity for this breed. The American Kennel Club considers bulldogs calm, friendly, and courageous animals. They can be affectionate and are usually good with children and other dogs. Although many people think bulldogs are lazy, according to the AKC, they enjoy brisk walks and moderate exercise, except during the hotter summer months. They also need a good diet to stay fit and healthy. Because the shape of their snout can cause labored breathing, summers are best spent indoors, spoiled with air conditioning. Image from TikTok. Bulldog owners are as fiercely loyal to their dogs as the dogs are to their humans. One of the most important parts of caring for bulldogs is keeping them from overheating. In that respect, the husband “taking the dog for a walk” by napping in the air-conditioned vehicle is a healthy exercise. English Harry’s family spends much time recording and posting about his life on TikTok. Harry is very good at making new friends. @englishharry #dog #olddog #dogsoftiktok #bestfriend #dogwalk #friends #rhodeisland #truelove #emptynest #needham #englishbulldog #cute ♬ The Tortured Poets Department – Taylor Swift If you have ever met an English bulldog, chances are good that you will love the breed for their easy-going nature. Please share this hilarious tale. You can find the source of this story’s featured image here and here. The post “My Husband Told Me He Was Taking The Dog For A Walk…” appeared first on InspireMore.

It's about far more than just one man. 

Sorry Kardashian, you're never going to be a legend

26%

'Li betrayed the Party's original aspiration'

An image shared on X claims to show signs that read, “f*** Trudeau” at a hockey game. This is the best thing I have ever seen. pic.twitter.com/7fwoxsQ7Uj — Keean Bexte (@TheRealKeean) June 25, 2024 Verdict: False The image has been digitally altered. The original post does not mention Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Fact Check: The […]

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Column Teen Horror Time Machine Vampire Beach Vacation: R.L. Stine’s Goodnight Kiss Books Fun in the sun… with vampires? By Alissa Burger | Published on June 27, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share The beach seems like the last place you would expect to find a vampire. Fun in the sun isn’t really their scene. But when the sun goes down, there are lots of shadows on the shore, beach bonfires, and moonlight strollers, often in singles or intimate pairs, which make for easy pickings. If the beach in question is a vacation spot, there’s also a transient, seasonal population of tourists coming and going, with fresh blood regularly rolling into town. These tourists often don’t know the area well or have ties to the local community, and while on vacation, they might be more likely to cut loose and make some risky decisions, so if one of them disappears or turns up dead every now and then, who’s going to make a fuss? In R.L. Stine’s Fear Street Super Chiller duo, Goodnight Kiss (1992) and Goodnight Kiss 2 (1996), the beach community of Sandy Hollow turns out to be the perfect place for vampires.  The vampires of Sandy Hollow refer to themselves as the Eternal Ones, and most of them have been vampires for generations, though they have no memory of their pre-vampire lives. This could explain why these particular vampires look, think, and act like teenagers, with little of the awareness or self-control that one might expect from decades of experience and survival–but it does help them more effectively blend in and connect with the teens upon whom they prey. When the young men and women vacationing in Sandy Hollow head out for a night on the town in the hope of meeting other kids (and maybe even making a love connection), the vampires are there to welcome them with open arms and sharpened fangs.  Stine definitely puts his own spin on the established vampire mythos and expectations. The vampires of Sandy Hollow are fanged monsters who sustain themselves by drinking the blood of humans, though they call blood “the nectar” (Goodnight Kiss 13). They can turn into bats, but they have to spin rapidly in place in order to do so. As Stine describes this transformation in Goodnight Kiss, the vampires “were spinning together, whirling with the wind beneath the smooth, steep rock cliff, whirling together—and then rising apart, rising into the dark sky, soaring high, then diving low over the beach, still dotted with groups of young people” (25). They sleep in coffins, with soil from their native land. A stake through the heart will kill them and so will the sun, usually, though they can move safely through a heavily overcast or rainy day. If a vampire feeds on a human three times, the human is transformed into an Eternal One. Given the amount of time the vampires spend with individual humans, there should reasonably be a significantly larger vampire population in Sandy Hollow, but Stine doesn’t tell us much about the hierarchy of the local vampire community, so it’s possible they fight for territory, that vampires move on to other locations once the summer is over, or that not all the vacationers-turned-vampires survive. Some of the vacationers who become vampires also head home with their families when the summer fun is done, carrying their curse back with them. The Sandy Hollow vampires are also really competitive, with a “who can turn one of those teenagers into a vampire first?” wager at the center of both Goodnight Kiss and Goodnight Kiss 2.  In Goodnight Kiss, the trio of human friends spending their summer in Sandy Hollow are April Blair, her boyfriend Matt, and their friend Todd, who have come from Shadyside. April and Matt have spent summers with their families in Sandy Hollow before, but it’s Todd’s first year there and they’re excited to show him around. Vampires Jessica and Gabri (short for Gabriel) are thrilled to make the teens’ acquaintance as well, with Jessica setting her sights on Todd and Gabri zeroing in on April. Goodnight Kiss 2 features three guy friends: Billy, Jay, and Nate. Like the first book, two of the guys (Billy and Nate) have spent summers in Sandy Hollow with their families in previous years and know their way around, while Jay’s there for the first time. Without internal romantic distractions among their friend group, this frees the fellas up to meet three beautiful vampire girls: Kylie, Irene, and April (the same April from Goodnight Kiss, who didn’t get a happy ending). The teens are all traveling with their families, staying in beach houses or condos, but aside from some younger sibling drama—April’s twin younger sisters are a handful and Nate’s mom makes him take his little sister along when the guys go out—they pretty much have free reign. They don’t seem to have curfews and stay out half the night. Their parents have their own lives: Billy’s parents only come to Sandy Hollow at the weekends, so he’s there on his own all week, and when Nate’s little sister starts (unsurprisingly) having nightmares about vampires, his parents take her home and leave Nate at the beach to keep partying unsupervised.  In each book, one of the main characters has his suspicions about what’s going on and tries to warn the others: in Goodnight Kiss, Matt’s a horror movie buff and knows the signs of vampire predation when he sees them, while in Goodnight Kiss 2, Billy has come back to Sandy Hollow this summer specifically to destroy the vampires, who killed his girlfriend Joelle the summer before. Like the prophetess Cassandra, however, their warnings fall on deaf ears and cost them friends: April breaks up with Matt and starts dating Gabri instead, dismissing Matt’s warnings as simple jealousy, while Billy’s friends tell him he’s crazy and Nate punches him in the face after Billy scares his little sister. Interestingly, people in Sandy Hollow talk about vampires plenty: there’s an abnormally large and aggressive population of bats in the beach community, who all live on an abandoned offshore island referred to as Vampire Island, and the community theatre’s summer production is about vampires. But no one actually believes in vampires, despite these connections (and the troubling number of mysterious deaths with bodies bearing neck puncture wounds), Vampires are make-believe, as everyone tells Matt and Billy, including the vampires themselves.  Goodnight Kiss and Goodnight Kiss 2 follow a similar trajectory, as Matt and Billy desperately try to convince their friends of the danger of the vampires before it’s too late, even as Todd and Jay grow weaker by the day, with every night bringing them closer to becoming Eternal Ones. Some of their attempts at proving the existence of vampires are clandestine, like when Matt follows April and Gabri to the local carnival and takes pictures of them, in the hopes of proving that Gabri’s a vampire when he doesn’t show up in the pictures (which works just as he anticipated, though Matt lurking in the shadows to take pictures of them is still creepy). Others are a bit more aggressive (and maybe even slightly unhinged), like when Billy, Jay, and April seek shelter from a storm in the theatre’s basement, then Billy lies about what time it is to trick April into staying after sunrise so he can open the door and shove her outside to see if she bursts into flames (which fails miserably because April is just pretending to be a vampire to trick and then destroy the real vampires. She’s also not actually April, but April’s cousin Diana, still devastated over her vampire cousin’s suicide by sunlight after being turned into a vampire last summer).  Matt and Billy both have to make the trip to Vampire Island for their final confrontation with the monsters, pushing through wild undergrowth to the burned out, abandoned houses the vampires have claimed as their own and dodging swarms of bats (who aren’t all vampires, though it’s hard to tell which ones are real bats and which are vampires in disguise, so best to be wary). Matt has to make his final stand alone, using a rowboat oar as a makeshift stake to kill Gabri in memorable fashion. As Stine writes in Goodnight Kiss, Gabri “opened his mouth to cry out, and a gray moth fluttered out … And as Matt stared in horror, Garbri’s body collapsed to the floor, folding like an accordion. His eyes stared lifelessly up at Matt, and Gabri’s face began to crumble, the skin drying and peeling, flaking to powder until the entire skull was revealed … And then the skull too disintegrated. Fell apart and crumbled” (206). Jessica is killed by fire, when Matt sets her ablaze and “Her wild cry faded only when her face began to melt, rivulets of skin dripping down like a burning wax candle” (212). In Goodnight Kiss 2, Billy and Diana head to Vampire Island together, a united front. Billy stakes Irene, who crumbles much as Gabri did, but Kylie is killed by the sunlight. When the light hit Kylie, “her skin began to shrivel and peel off … [she was] bending in pain, howling, howling … Until her head rolled off her body. Her body tumbled to the floor, across the square of orange light, melting, flaking, shriveling” (209). At the end of each book, the heroes are finally believed, emerging victorious, as the main vampire antagonists have been destroyed.  But the larger vampire threat persists. Goodnight Kiss and Goodnight Kiss 2 feature some of Stine’s most fatalistic endings, with success achieved only to be snatched away moments later. In Goodnight Kiss, Matt has defeated the vampires and won April back, only to have her turn on him, as she “reached up and grabbed his shoulders with surprising strength, and bared her fangs, slender and pale in the light of the half moon” (215) as she attacks him. In Goodnight Kiss 2, Billy and Diana are united in their hatred for and desire to get vengeance on the vampires who killed people they loved, but it turns out Billy is a vampire too, attacking Diana in the book’s final pages, in the bright, public space of the local pizzeria in front of dozens of witnesses, so it at least seems likely that the Sandy Hollow residents will have to acknowledge the existence of vampires now (not that does Diana much good).  Goodnight Kiss and Goodnight Kiss 2 present an interesting riff on the traditional vampire narrative, upholding several expected components like bloodsucking, the ability to transform into a bat, and death by staking, while re-situating these monsters within an idyllic beach setting. While the world through which they move and the teens with whom they share it may deviate from the usual story, the vampires of Sandy Hollow are just as dangerous as the more conventional versions of these monsters, as they prey upon this seaside community and leave a trail of dead teens in their wake. The even greater horror, however, is for those who survive as Eternal Ones, the teens who have been transformed into vampires and will now take their turn hunting, whether in the streets of Sandy Hollow or in their own hometowns.[end-mark] The post Vampire Beach Vacation: R.L. Stine’s <i>Goodnight Kiss</i> Books appeared first on Reactor.